Mr. Beach’s client was accused of assaulting his girlfriend. Unfortunately, the girlfriend had an obviously swelling wound to the side of her face. However, Mr. Beach’s client said that the girlfriend was the one who attacked him and that all he did was defending himself by pushing her off of him. So, Mr. Beach’s client declined the option of the Deferred Sentencing Program and went to trial. At the trial, Mr. Beach was able to establish to the jury that his client was in fact merely defending himself by pushing the real aggressor away and that the injury to her face must have come from that event. The jury quickly returned a Not Guilty Verdict.
Congratulations to Tyler Beach on another Domestic Violence Case Jury Trial Win!
Mr. Beach’s client was accused of Interference with Making a Report and Harassment. Essentially, the alleged victim claimed that Mr. Beach’s client had thrown an item that hit her and when she went to call the police that he had taken away the phone. Mr. Beach’s client was eligible for the Deferred Sentencing Program; however, he declined that option saying that he simply didn’t do what she claimed that he had done. So, Mr. Beach took the case to trial. After hearing everything, and most importantly after hearing Mr. Beach point out all the many inconstancies, the jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty on Both charges.
Congratulations to Jennelle Johnson on another Jury Trial Win!
Ms. Johnson’s client was accused of Assault and Harassment. This was in a domestic situation. Ms. Johnson’s strategy was to draw the jury’s attention to the multiple inconsistent stories that the alleged victim had given. During the prosecutor’s presentation, the alleged victim gave a detailed story while staring directly at Ms. Johnson’s client. During Ms. Johnson’s cross examination of the alleged victim, Ms. Johnson addressed the different stories the alleged victim had given at every interview. A nice touch was when Ms. Johnson use the alleged victim’s own 911 call to establish the unreliability of the alleged victim’s testimony. After Ms. Johnson’s work, the jury returned a Not Guilty on both charges.
Congratulations to Tyler Beach on obtaining a massive sentence reduction!
Mr. Beach’s client had a ‘not good’ criminal history and was accused of two counts new charges of Aggravated Harassment. Basically, Mr. Beach’s was accused of twice propelling ‘bodily fluid’ onto law enforcement personnel. During negotiations, the prosecutor would not agree to any sentence less than 13 months of prison. So, Mr. Beach took the case to trial. The result was that Mr. Beach won one count and lost the other. So, already that was a win. However, the big win was that for the sentencing on the one count, Mr. Beach’s client received a ‘credit for time served’ sentence. So, no jail despite the prosecutors continued demand for prison.
Congratulations to Thomas Goldman on getting yet another child returned to his mother!
In juvenile law, sometimes the government will decide that they wish to take a child who has been placed into foster care and move that child into another home and to never return that child to the child’s parents. In Mr. Goldman’s most recent case, Mr. Goldman represented a mom. Dad was not participating and the government wished to place the child into a new ‘forever’ home (not mom’s home). Accordingly, Mr. Goldman asked the court for a trial on the issue. After a few days of trial, Mr. Goldman not only obtained a court order preventing the government from moving the child to a new not-mom home; but, Mr. Goldman also obtained an order to return the child to mom as the new ‘forever’ home!
Congratulations to Tyler Beach on obtaining his fourth dismissal of cases against his clients in a row!
One tactic in criminal defense is to convince the prosecutor prior to trial that the prosecutor simply cannot win and that the case should be dismissed. Mr. Beach just obtained the fourth dismissal in a row by pursuit of this tactic. For the last two, one was a client who had been accused of making racially motivated threats. On that one, Mr. Beach, through his investigation, was able to obtain a video of the event through the alleged victim’s employer. That video directly showed that the alleged victim was not telling the truth and that Mr. Beach’s client neither made threats nor racial slurs. On the most recent case, and again through Mr. Beach’s investigation and pursuit of the facts, Mr. Beach was able to demonstrate to the prosecutor that Mr. Beach’s client was the actual victim.
Congratulations to Tyler Beach on yet another Jury Trial Win!
Mr. Beach’s client was accused of hitting his granddaughter. During Mr. Beach’s cross examination of the granddaughter, Mr. Beach established that the contact might have been accidental. Also, Mr. Beach proved that the granddaughter’s claims at trial over who was in the room during the event were different from what she said when the police interviewed her as well as what the witnesses at trial said - therefore she was unreliable. Also, Mr. Beach got her to talk about the bruising she experienced, and then to confirm that the photos of her – which showed no bruises – were accurate photos. Accordingly, the jury returned a Not Guilty finding!
Congratulations to Jennelle Johnson on a Juvenile Court Trial Win!
Ms. Johnson represented a 16 year old girl who had been placed into foster care by the Department of Human Services (DHS). DHS was fearful that her father’s diagnosed mental health problems created a ‘threat of harm’ in the household to any child that lived there. So, they had placed Ms. Johnson’s client into foster care. At trial, Ms. Johnson proved that although her client’s father had a mental health diagnosis, there was no proof (we call it a ‘nexus’) that his mental health actually created any risk of harm to Ms. Johnson’s client. After all the evidence and argument, the judge agreed with Ms. Johnson and dismissed the case thus returning Ms. Johnson’s client to her home
Congratulations to David Carter on a Successful Motion for Judgement of Acquittal!
In criminal law, there is a stage after the prosecutor has rested his/her case, but before the defense has offered any evidence, that the defense can argue to the judge that even if everything the prosecutor has submitted were to be true, that it does not prove the crime alleged. Exactly this happened for Mr. Carter. His client was accused of assault for swinging a backpack into his mother and that the contact caused her pain. Through cross examination of the prosecutor’s witnesses, it was established that Mr. Carter’s client was merely putting on the backpack and his mom came in from behind just as he was swinging the backpack across his back so that he could put his left arm into the arm loop. Once the prosecutor rested, Mr. Carter argued to declare a judgment of acquittal for that allegation and it was granted!
Congratulations to Tyler Beach on a Felony Assault Not Guilty finding!
Mr. Beach’s client was accused of Felony Assault 4 and Harassment. The Assault charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 5 years. During the trial, Mr. Beach directed the jury to focus on the many differing stories given by the alleged victim. She had made differing claims about experiencing pain and needing to use crutches. Mr. Beach showed how the various claims regarding pain contradicted each other. Also, Mr. Beach used the police to testify about how well the alleged victim was walking, how far she walked (without crutches), and her lack of any apparent pain when with the police. Lastly, Mr. Beach got into evidence the fact that the alleged victim has already been convicted of the crime of Providing False Information to the police. Accordingly, Mr. Beach’s client was found Not Guilty of the Felony Assault. Mr. Beach’s client was convicted of the Harassment misdemeanor. However, that was the crime he actually did commit and he received probation for that charge.